what are you feeding your brain?

Well, I finally finished reading Inkdeath, the final installment in Funke's fantasy trilogy. I read it to Robyn as bedtime stories, so it took a while to finish (particularly with my three-week hiatus in Taiwan). Robyn had re-read both Inkheart and Inkspell before we started, but I hadn't, so there were bits of each that I didn't quite remember. However, the plot was pretty easy to follow and I found that I didn't feel like I was missing anything.

The plot this time around takes place almost entirely in the Inkworld; eventually most of the major characters find their way into Fenoglio's book, where the rules are all different. Orpheus, the criminally-minded reader, decides to use his talent (and a copy of Inkheart) to make himself fabulously wealthy. Various characters encounter the White Women, the harbingers of death, and things get a little strange. The Adderhead is still immortal but very unhealthy, thanks to the White Book that Mo bound for him.

I think I enjoyed this volume better than the second (which spent too much time on Meggie and Farid's relationship, I thought) and there was a lot more happening. However, towards the last portion of the book I started feeling a little apathetic towards our main characters, because it really didn't seem like death was going to be be an issue. When you don't feel like the characters are really in danger, the story becomes a little less exciting.

Still, I think the series overall was a good one, and it's still one of my favorites of Funke's. I like the idea of worlds inside books, and the battling authors trying to wrest control of the story. It's also a great approach to the question: "What happens when a 'real' person ends up inside a story?" Do they become a character? Can they die? Can they belong to this new world?

One other thing that I particularly like about all three books in the series: the epigrams before each chapter. It's always fun when you recognize a quote from a book you've read (The Book Thief featured heavily in the last volume), but it's also fun to find new books to add to your list, and Funke definitely has a good reading list.

The first book is still probably my favorite of the three, but I would recommend this entire trilogy to anyone who's a fan of books and a little bit of magic.